that of
the dance, as an impertinent Frenchman said of us Anglo-Saxons, _moult
tristement_. That indescribable air of sadness which, as so many
observers have concurred in noting, broods over the district which
they inhabit seems to have communicated itself to the inmost nature
and character of the populations. They are a stern, sad, sombre and
silent race, for what I have said above of a tendency to noisiness and
vociferation must be understood to apply to the town-populations only.
Their dance is generally much slower than that of the city-folk. In
these latter days increased communication has taught some of them to
assimilate their dancing with more or less successful imitation to the
waltz, but in many cases these parties of peasants may still be seen
practicing the old dances, now wholly unknown in the city. But whether
they are keeping to their old figures and methods or endeavoring to
follow new ones, the difference in their bearing is equally striking.
The dancing of peasants must necessarily be for the most part heavy
and awkward, but despite this the men of the Campagna and the hills
are frequently not without a certain dignity of bearing, and the women
often, though perhaps not quite so frequently, far from devoid of
grace. Especially may the former quality be observed if, as is likely,
the dancers belong to the class of mounted herdsmen, who pass their
lives on horseback, and whose exclusive duty it is to tend the herds
of half-wild cattle that roam over the plains around Rome. These are
the "butteri" of whom I wrote on a former occasion in these pages--the
aristocracy of the Campagna. And it is likely that dancers on the
Piazza Navona on a Befana night should belong to this class, for the
Campagna shepherd is probably too poor, too abject and too little
civilized to indulge in any such pastime.

Little of either grace or dignity will be observed in the
Terpsichorean efforts of the Roman _plebs_ of the present day.
Lightness, _brio_, enjoyment and an infinite amount of "go" may be
seen, and plenty of laughter heard, and "lazzi"--sallies more or less
imbued with wit, or at least fun, and more or less repeatable to ears
polite. But there is a continual tendency in the dancing to pass
into horse-play and romping which would not be observed among the
peasantry. In a word, there is a touch of blackguardism in the city
circles, which phase could not with any justice or propriety be
applied to the country parties.